I didn’t know what a grand jury was when I got a letter telling me I was on one. The name made it sound like a regular jury but more fancy. Perhaps we’d get to wear big white wigs. We did not. The jury consisted of me and twentyish other disgruntled citizens who met every…
Ever since reading Nancy Drew in third grade, I’ve wanted to write about crime. Or, more specifically, the mystery that so often comes hand in hand with crime. Between third grade and the time I eventually wrote Fake Plastic Girl and Fake Plastic World, I had many years to dive deeper into the world of…
Join author Cindy Anstey as she explores how the concept of a full-time police force evolved from the informal truncheon-swinging “Peelers” and “Bobbies.” The Hummingbird Dagger—Cindy’s new YA novel set in a turbulent 1800’s London as the police force is transforming—blends romance, danger, and mystery. Research is the lifeblood of a historical writer. Not only…
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GIFnotes: Giving you the basic plot summary of an upcoming book with the help of the Graphics Interchange Format. Compelling and witty, Duels and Deception is perfect for readers who like their historical fiction with a side of intrigue. Take a visual tour of Cindy Anstey's Regency romance with GIFnotes!
Hideout by Watt Key is a riveting middle-grade adventure featuring the son of a Mississippi policeman who finds a boy living on his own in the wilderness (Available January 10, 2017). Twelve-year-old Sam has been given a fishing boat by his father, but he hates fishing. Instead he uses the boat to disappear for hours at…
Steeplejack by A.J. Hartley is the New York Times bestselling author's young-adult debut, set in a 19th-century South African fantasy world (Available June 14, 2016). Seventeen-year-old Anglet Sutonga lives repairing the chimneys, towers, and spires of the city of Bar-Selehm. Dramatically different communities live and work alongside each other. The white Feldish command the nation’s…
Our literary tastes begin early in our reading life, and classic literature may be the catalyst. Somewhere within the pages of “having to read” certain books dictated by our teachers we begin to find topics that pique our own interests. Believe it or not, the characters in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream or Orwell’s Animal…
The Haunting of Falcon House by Eugene Yelchin is a translated children's story about the story of Prince Lev Lvov of Russia and the mystery of the Falcon House (Available June 14, 2016). A long undisturbed bedroom. A startling likeness. A mysterious friend. When twelve-year-old Prince Lev Lvov goes to live with his aunt at…
The Underdogs by Sara Hammel is a teen mystery with a breathtaking twist (Available May 31, 2016). Who killed Annabel Harper? When a popular teen beauty’s body is discovered by the pool at an elite tennis club, the regulars are shocked—especially twelve-year-old Evie and her best friend, Chelsea. While everyone else is haunted by the…
